The Role of Art in Today’s World – Feb. 12

Art is always unexpected, singular, new, forward-looking, and potentially disturbing. Can Art with a capital “A” have a place in our society, with its unparalleled focus on the real and on fulfillment in the here and now? From their own points of view, choreographer Heidi Duckler, theater director Armando Molina, art curator Darrel Couturier, and composer Hugh Levick will discuss the existential need for art. The conversation will be moderated by the Wende’s Deputy Director Cara Megan Lewis.

Darrel Couturier is a curator and art dealer with a specialty in Latin American art. He grew up in a gallery business in New York and Connecticut before becoming owner and director of Couturier Gallery, which was located on La Brea Avenue for 31 years. He now dedicates his time to curating exhibitions and working as a certified appraiser of fine art.

Heidi Duckler is the Founder and Artistic Director of Heidi Duckler Dance in Los Angeles, CA, the pioneer of site-specific place-based contemporary practice, and is titled the “reigning queen of site-specific performance” by the L.A. Times. Duckler has been awarded the Distinguished Dance Alumna award from the University of Oregon School of Music and Dance, the Dance/USA and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation’s Engaging Dance Audiences award, and the National Endowment of the Arts American Masterpiece award. Duckler has created more than 500 dance pieces all over the world and she is currently on faculty at the University of California, Santa Barbara in the Film and Media Studies Department.

Performed in—among other places—Los Angeles, Paris, NYC, Switzerland, Germany and Spain, Hugh Levick will have a 3rd CD of his music recorded by Radio France / Signature in the fall of 2023. In 2011 Levick created HEAR NOW, a festival of new music by contemporary L.A. composers. In its twelfth season HEAR NOW 2023 will take place between April 13th and April 16th in Los Angeles.

Armando Molina is a director and actor with a background in theater development. He is currently the Artistic Director of Company of Angels. Regionally, Armando has directed at Mixed Blood Theater, PCPA Theaterfest, TheatreWorks, Borderlands Theater Company, and Teatro Vision.

To RSVP, go to wendemuseum.org

The Actors' Gang